Wal-Mart continued

Protesters wave placards and express their displeasure about the choice of a lot adjacent to a Campbell River-side trail to build a Wal-Mart store. Photo: Paul Rudan/Campbell River Mirror

We continue to receive many letters regarding Wal-Mart's plan to build a store on the banks of the Campbell River.
It's become a hot issue with the unique angle that the most prominent complaint is the location of the building on land "in the Campbell River estuary." The community has spent hundreds of thousands, if not millions on rehabilitating both the estuary and the upper reaches of the famous Heritage River. Locating the Wal-Mart store and its parking lot on that land could impact the river, if not with seeping pollutants, then certainly visually.
There is a popular walking trail along the actual bank of the river and if the Wal-Mart is built on the adjacent lot (it used to be a dryland sort for a logging company), then the parking lot and the building would dominate the inland visual field. If opponents are unsuccessful in convincing city council to reject the developer's rezoning application, then I, personally, would want to see Wal-Mart plant a visual buffer of trees so that you couldn't see the building.
It's interesting to see that this is all coming down to a rezoning application. Council could reject it but I find it hard to believe that council will do that given that Wal-Mart has been negotiating with the city for some time now and, also, given the city's close relationship with the Campbell River Indian Band which owns the land and wants to develop it. It's hard to imagine that council could be so blind as to not see the potential uproar the store location would generate. I could also see that the Band would be rightfully furious if council were to reject the rezoning. Presumably, all parties have been talking about this for some months and to have council pull the carpet out from under the plan at this stage, would be a surprise to all parties I'm sure.
But that's where the public sentiment is these days. A protest rally on Tuesday drew over 150 people demanding the rezoning be rejected.
This issue is not your run of the mill oppose Wal-Mart battle. Many of the protesters don't object to Wal-Mart on the grounds that they are accused of killing competition and using forced Chinese labour, they're more concerned with the environmental implications.
One of the organizers of the rally is city councillor Morgan Ostler. To see her rally the opposition at this date is curious. Did she not speak out against the location during the previous months of negotiation with the big box giant? Why is she coming out with it now? Has the tide of public opinion prompted her stance on this issue? It's an election year.
This one's going to keep burning for a while.